The Grind Burger Bar,PJ

The Grind Burger Bar,PJ

We’ve had our fair share of burger hunting these past few weeks, and the latest thing to hit this blog is the newly opened The Grind Burger Bar in Section 17. If I’m not mistaken, it has only been open for about two to three weeks and I actually think this is the soonest we’ve ever visited a place since it’s opening.
On the same row as Kanna Curry House, it was a quiet Sunday as we turned up before 12pm (The Grind’s opening time) and took our seats in the still-empty restaurant. The Grind sounds a lot like The Daily Grind, and the decor looks a lot alike too but what makes The Grind preferable to us is that it serves pork (yay!!) and the prices are definitely alot cheaper than at The Daily Grind. Less talk, more pictures!

  
Vintage pin-up girls holding burgers race the brick and white walls; sauces and condiments; the empty (but not for long) seats.
The Grind Burger Bar is cozy, comfortable and well-lit.

The Fiery Peppercorn Burger (RM16); pork patty with crusted peppercorns, natural cheddar, greens, onion silvers, fresh tomato and mayonnaise.

All-pork patty encrusted in pepper. I found the pork patty a little dry and a tad bit bland, but maybe that’s just me as Wils was happily chomping away.

Something different from your usual hot dog: The Big Black Dog (RM16); pork bratwurst served on a pitch black charcoal bun topped with chilli pork, natural cheddar, mozzarella and fresh onions, served with herbed fries and greens.

The pork bratwurst was juicy, and went very well with the chili pork. I loved this!

Extra flavour was contributed by the generous heaping of mozzarella and cheddar.

 
Special mention should go to the fries, because they were sprinkled with nori seaweed salt. Delicious!

For our meal, the bill came up to only RM37.40, that’s definitely value for money for taste and portion as burgers like these would probably set you back more than RM25 in other places.
We’ll definitely be heading here again to try the other things on the menu.

Address:
The Grind Burger Bar,
7, Jalan 17/45, Section 17, Petaling Jaya.
(Same row as Kanna Curry House, further down from the Police Station)
Noon-3pm, 5pm-10pm.

Map *here*

monday, march 18, 2013

ronnycakes reviews: Basix Cafe, West Hollywood, Los Angeles

When I was doing my research for places to visit and eat before our LA trip, I came across Basix Cafe which was highly rated and calls itself a West Hollywood tradition that is a favourite with the locals. Located on a corner lot of 8333 Santa Monica Boulevard, Basix’s menu boasts a large selection of breakfast offerings, from power breakfasts to muffins and buttermilk pancakes. The lunch menu is extensive as well, with interesting sounding pizzas, sandwiches and pastas.
We arrived at the Cafe at around 12.30pm and already the inside was packed to the brim. Luckily for al fresco seating and for outdoor heaters as the chilly wind almost froze our socks off.

The Tuscan Tomato Bread Soup (US$6.50 per bowl) was a slow-simmered thick broth with ripe tomatoes, basil, rosemary croutons and a parmesan cheese crisp. Certainly tangy and refreshing.

The Chicken Tequila Pasta (US$12.50) was a hit; fettuccini with red & green peppers, red onion, cilantro and a jalapeno cream sauce. The cream wasn’t overpowering and you could really taste the tequila in the sauce.

 
For an additional US$2.50, you can add a mini Caesar salad to your meal.

Chicken & Sundried Tomato-Pesto Fettuccini (US$12.50), chicken breast & sauteed mushrooms with a tomato-pesto cream sauce.

The Turkey Club (US$11), applewood smoked bacon (yummers!), bibb lettuce, tomato, avocado, mayo and house-roasted turkey on toasted sourdough. A little bit on the dry side but delicious nonetheless. Portions are seriously huge on this side of the globe.

Spaghetti and Meatballs (US$12.50), 100% certified angus beef meatballs with fresh herbs. Look at the generous heaping of cheese topping!

Basix Special Scramble (US$8.50), 3 eggs scrambled with Italian chicken sausage, mushrooms, caramelized onions & fresh spinach with toast and choice of griddled potatoes, sliced tomatoes or fresh fruit.

Perfect breakfast food with a twist; Crabcakes Benedict (US$10); two poached eggs on crabcakes with chipotle hollandaise sauce, served with griddled potatoes. Wils absolutely loved this one, being a huge fan of eggs benedict.

 
Came with a side of fresh fruits (raspberries!!).

Great food at reasonable prices, I can definitely see why Basix is described as a place with “well-made, uncomplicated Cal-Italian eats with a decent price”. Definitely a must-visit!

Address:
8333 Santa Monica Blvd,
West Hollywood
CA 90069, United States

Map *here*

friday, march 15, 2013

ronnycakes reviews: Kompassion by My Elephant, Damansara Kim

My Elephant has branched out to include a new non-halal Thai cuisine outlet by the name of Kompassion; and because My Elephant’s Thai food has always been something we enjoyed, Kompassion naturally made its way into our must-try list.

We arrived on a Sunday afternoon at about 1pm and already the entire shop was almost full to the brim. Luckily there was a tiny table for 2 that was available.
One thing you’ll notice on the menu is that there are a lot of fusion concepts at play and the dishes such as Thai Curry Ramen and Linguine Pad Thai to name a few, are dishes that you definitely don’t see in usual Thai restaurants. Another major plus point about Kompassion is that they serve pork whilst most commercial Thai restaurants are restricted to just duck/chicken/fish/beef offerings.

For starters we had the Smoked Salmon, Pork Bacon & Kimchi Salad (RM18.90). Who would have thought salmon, bacon and kimchi could go so well together? Both of us loved this so much and practically had to fight each other off for the last bite. Absolutely delicious and definitely out of the ordinary!

For mains, I had the Tom Yum Fried Rice with Grilled Seafood (RM18.90). A generous helping of scallops, prawn, squid and a piece of grilled salmon was served up with my rice. I loved the fried, but found that it lacked a little oomph in terms of spiciness and sourness but I suppose that is just personal preference.

Kimchi was also served on the side for the rice and it lent a sour-ish and savoury taste to the rice.

Wils had the super hearty Linguine Phad Thai served with Prawn, Crab Stick and Squid (RM15.90). Fried linguine noodles tossed with peanuts, chili flakes and seafood. Very refreshing!

 

If we had come to Kompassion with a larger party we could have tried their sharing platters of pork or Tom Yam Soup (costing about RM50 per bowl :O) but since it was only the two of us we went for the lighter stuff.

The next time round, I’ll definitely be trying that curry ramen for myself, and not forgetting a repeat order of that Smoked Salmon, Bacon and Kimchi Salad!

Address:
KomPassion Thai Fusion Food (same row as Euro Deli),
5, Jalan SS20/11,
Damansara Kim, Petaling Jaya.
Map *here*

Vietnam Food

I was visit the restaurant with my family couple years ago. The shop was great clean and most of the staff are friendly. The foods from that restaurant are great. I always go for his soupy goodness, sometimes my brother in law will follow suit, which is the pork ball noodles, which comes with smooth rice noodles and clear but flavourful soup. Meanwhile, though i being a non-fan of beef, there is also the famous Vietnamese beef noodle soup here. It may not be the best of its kind but for the variety that this restaurant is serving, it is good enough for its kind. It is the usual famous Vietnamese noodle soup with thick broth and smooth noodles.

Oriental Mooncakes

Oriental Mooncakes 

white coffee lotus paste baked mooncake

This year's Mandarin Oriental mooncake choices especially their new flavours don't feel very exciting compared to what I have already sampled from other hotels.  they have introduced a baked mooncake with a white coffee lotus paste, white chocolate mooncakes with coconut ganache and gula melaka, white chocolate mooncakes with green tea ganache with black sesame and mini snow skin mooncake with corn paste. They have retained last year's milk chocolate with peanut butter crunch and raspberry center but omitted the chocolate with durian.

chocolate mooncakes (white is the coconut and green for the green tea with black sesame) and old fashioned Chinese calendars

Compared to last year's prices, the baked mooncake and chocolate varieties have maintained their prices but the mini snowskin variety has seen a price increase . I enjoyed the baked variety with the aromatic white coffee lotus paste \. I also liked the melon seeds within giving it a nice texture contrast with the smoothness of the paste.

Mini snowskin mooncake with corn paste, pretty white flowers from the garden, the bright gold and red boxes

The mini snowskin mooncake with corn paste (RM12++) was super tiny. This didn't fare too well with me as I felt that the corn flavour wasn't too distinct even though the filling was nice and smooth.

white coffee lotus paste mooncake revealed

Mandarin Oriental has always been famous for their chocolate mooncakes and these are well made with a smooth and not overly sweet fillings. I enjoyed the smooth taste of the white chocolate with coconut ganache and gula melaka (RM18++). They have kept the coconut aroma a tad lower than normal but I think it works well since a too strong coconut element would have made it overpowering. You don't get much of the gula melaka flavours but the silky smooth ganache does not make you miss it much.

chocolate ganache mooncakes

The other variety, white chocolate with green tea ganache and black sesame was a little on the sweeter side with a not very distinct green tea flavour. It didn't have much of a strong flavour to it making this mooncake kinda forgettable. Quite sad actually as I am sure the pairing of the sweet white chocolate would be perfect with the slightly bitter green tea flavour. Maybe it is best to stick to the old favourites from here like their famous mini snow skin mooncake with durian paste.

Best Sumika yakitory 's Foods in Malaysia

liver yaki sticks

I'm slowly easing back into blogging and rather than await for the next best thing, I guess I should take a more practical approach and just document what I've been eating. This means I guess revisits to places, like this yakitori bar I visited in 2010.


braised intestines in vinegar served with yuzu kusho on the side

The funny thing is even though these places are considered off the radar, being opened for so long, I realised not everyone has been. Hence one night, we decided to make a visit here for some smoky charcoal grilled sticks.


yaki onigiri

I've been eating at yakitori bars these past few weeks and throughout the years, I did not realise, lots of places have sprouted around the Klang Valley. It's slowly growing albeit not as fast as ramen shops. The latest one to join the grill club is Kushiyaki Kuni at Plaza Damas that is run by a former Rakuzen chef.


pork with oba leaf

Since there was four of us, we ordered a fair bit of sticks that kept coming until we realised, we had over ordered in a fit of hunger. Top on our can order again list was definitely the perfectly cooked chicken liver, the poor man's foie gras. Strangely enough, the pork liver was a tad too overcooked hence we prefered the chook's liver instead.


mentai riceball

The beef ribs (RM9) came highly recommended. Even though they were juicy, there was a slight chewy taste to the beef. Instead, we focused on the chook, in its glory - crispy chicken skin, juicy chicken thighs and the crispy chicken wings. While the wings were juicy and rather nice, I still prefer Ri-Yakitori's super crispy chicken wings, always sold out before you know it.


beef ribs

Supplementing all that meat, was the carbohydrates in the form of rice balls. We ordered the mentai stuffed rice ball or onigiri  that was yummy since it came slightly warm, with a slightly spicy cod roe filling. another favourite was the yaki onigiri , the grilled rice ball with its crusty grains. There was also mashed potato and baked sweet potatoes  with butter to fill our tummies.

 
grilled sweet potatoes

Other good eats was the grilled pork with aromatic oba leaves,  large juicy scallops and the shiitake mushrooms . If you prefer, order from the specials and you will strike lucky, like we did with crunchy intestines in vinegar. 

The place is perpetually packed with people, so book ahead to avoid being turned away. You are also given "free-flow" cabbage doused in soy sauce and vegetable pickles.